Board Profile: Courtney Shealy Hart

By Alice McCall:

Coaching across the Florida Georgia line, Courtney has been able to cultivate her experiences into leading the Yellow Jackets through their 11th season, as their Head Coach. With her haul of accolades from the University of Georgia, the SEC, and the NCAA alongside being a two-time Olympic medalist (Sydney, 2000), it was time for Courtney to show the NCAA how good of a coach she could be, as well as an athlete. Starting her career at the University of North Florida, there was soon an open spot for her to join the staff at Georgia Tech and she has since moved into the head coach position coaching close to 40 NCAA Championship qualifiers.  

What makes Georgia Tech a special place?

I love the athletic department, the campus, and the city, it’s a great combination for our team. We have a great facility that we are truly grateful and blessed to have, (McAuley Aquatic Center, home of 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games). I love that we have a campus in a major city but it doesn’t just feel like a bunch of buildings downtown; I love what the city of Atlanta provides, sports, food, concerts, it just an awesome package.

What motivated you to join the world of coaching?

As a successful athlete, I obviously benefitted from great coaches and being able to take the program to the next level as an athlete, I now wanted to do that as a coach, as well. It’s awesome to be on the coaching side, especially when you see all the hard work pay off for a student-athlete.  

What prompted you to serve on the CSCAA Board of Directors?

Trying to be a female voice and trying to be as helpful as I can. I know that there’s not a lot of female head coaches out there, so I wanted to be able to be a voice for all of us.

What is your proudest moment/accomplishment as a part of the CSCAA Board?

Matt, Sam, and Greg are doing a great job of trying to get everybody on the same page and move everyone forward in terms of legislation. The more informed we as coaches are, the better we can do. So it’s been great to be able to be a part of watching this progress.

What was your most memorable talk at the CSCAA Convention?

I really liked Christie’s (Schefchunas), I went to both of her talks this past convention. I’ve been a big fan of Christie for a long time, and I think that it (confidence) really hits home with today’s athlete, I really do.

Who have been some of your mentors and why?

Jack Bauerle is obviously my head coach from when I was at Georgia, I spent a lot of time with him.

Beth Harrell, she was actually at the University of South Carolina when I was being recruited in high school, and then got me into coaching at the University of North Florida.  

Carol Capitani, head coach at Texas.

What has been one of your biggest obstacles and how did you overcome it?

I think being recognized as a successful female coach. I do speak up and I do it respectfully, and I know that some of my male counterparts do appreciate that about me, that I try to give a voice. Getting to the point of being recognized has been an obstacle, everybody has their own opinion and should be heard.

What is the biggest challenge facing college swimming and diving?

We continually have to do everything, but fundraising is so important to what we do. We have some amazing donors, I was just fortunate to have one of my top donors to endow my head coaching position, it’s the first to be done at Georgia Tech. I think fundraising is just what we have to do in our sport for security. {Read More about the endowment ]

What’s a fun fact about Courtney Shealy Hart?

I played volleyball and swam all the way through college at the University of Georgia, so I think that’s pretty cool I was able to do that! (It’s true - check out her stats.)